SPPC Blog

Palliative and End of Life Care Standards in Scotland’s Prisons

The Scottish Governments Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care shares a vision that by 2021 everyone who can benefit from palliative care in Scotland will receive it – ‘no matter what their circumstances’.

There is a reality in Scotland’s prisons; prisoners are getting older and facing end of life in prison. It would be fair to say this is not just an issue in Scotland but actually reflects the growing international issue of ageing prisoners. In May 2017 the European Association of Palliative Care commissioned a task force with the aim of mapping Palliative Care provision for prisoners in Europe. Prison systems vary hugely across countries and attitudes to and provision for dying prisoners are variable.

I have been employed in a two year role with the task of implementing palliative and end of life care standards in Scottish Prisons. This role is funded by Macmillan with the primary goal of supporting the NHS staff and Scottish Prison Service staff working in prisons continuing the work of implementing these standards of care.

A 2017 report by Audit Scotland highlighted that there was a higher death rate among the poor in Scotland with mortality rates from cancer and heart disease higher than the rest of the UK. The incidences of cancer are increasing across Scotland, which means there is likely to be a growing number of prisoners with a cancer diagnosis. Prisoners experience a disproportionately higher burden of illness (including infectious diseases, long term conditions and mental health problems) and problems with substance misuse (drugs, alcohol and tobacco). The prison health demographics sees the health age of most prisoners as being at least a decade older than the general public with a shorter life expectancy with the fastest growing population in Scotland’s prisons being males over 50.

A recent report Who Cares? The Lived Experience of Older Prisoners in Scotland's Prisons by HM Inspectorate of Prisons Scotland highlighted the case of ageing prisoners. It discussed the challenges for the staff working in prisons in caring for this group and for the prisoners themselves with their biggest fear, dying in prison. The group surveyed were predominantly serving 4 years or more which is considered a long term sentence.

Prisons have historically been built for young men but the changing face of prisons mean that the environment is often unsuitable for older prisoners. It is a sobering experience when you enter one of the halls in a prison and see wheelchairs, zimmer frames and walking sticks and where the general population would not look out of place in a Nursing home.

The Healthcare for each prison is the responsibility of the Health Board where the prison is situated. The core Health team is made up of Primary Care nurses, Mental Health nurses and Addiction team. They are supported by a GP and varying other visiting professionals from their Health Board.

There is no provision of in-house hospital facilities in Scotland’s prisons and no 24 hour nursing care. There is an out of hour’s system to contact a GP if required. Social care is provided by agencies organised by the Scottish Prison Service.

What was evident in discussions at varying prisons was the challenge in identifying their population who required supportive and palliative care. It was clear that for staff, just like many others; there were myths and misconceptions around the subject of palliative care with most voicing it was about end of life.

An example of work done in one of the prisons which have a larger cohort of older prisoners is in establishing a multidisciplinary Supportive and Palliative Care meeting which allowed for discussion and early identification of these prisoners. I have introduced the SPICT4-ALL tool and there is ongoing discussion how we can apply this.

I recently supported ‘To Absent Friends’ events in HMP Kilmarnock and HMP Glenochil and was humbled by the honesty of the prisoners and the staff in discussing their experiences of loss. The events were well received and there has been further discussion as to how this could be developed.

In the few months since I commenced in this post I have met some extraordinary staff from both the Prison service and NHS, who works tirelessly to ensure that prisoners receive the best standard of care possible within their context. There is an opportunity for those of us who have the knowledge and experience working in Palliative Care to further influence this work and continue to support the staff and those who are in prison.